Title:
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Can restorative practices work in a Loyalist area? : a case
study on restorative responses to community conflict of a
Loyalist area in South Belfast
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Community based restorative justice organisations developed in Northern Ireland as
response to a specific community problem of paramilitary punishment beatings.
They have grown to become critical components not only within the communities in
which they practice but also in establishing relationships between community and
State in a transitional post-conflict Northern Ireland. Community based restorative
justice organisations only developed in a Loyalist community context in paramilitary
constituencies associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). This thesis
contributes to knowledge as the first research study of restorative practices being
implemented in a Loyalist community associated with the Ulster Defence Association
(UDA). In addition, this thesis also considers community based restorative justice
being introduced to a community not in response to a specific issue of paramilitary
punishment attacks but as a conduit in developing alternative and deepened
experiences of justice within a community context. This study connects with an
extensive European Union funded research project involving research sites in
member states including Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Serbia and Northern
Ireland.
This is a qualitative research study of a Loyalist community in South Belfast.
Participants were selected using snowball sampling techniques to include a broad
spectrum of participants with knowledge not only of the research site but also
community based restorative justice. The individuals chosen for this research include
restorative practitioners, residents of the research site, politicians, clergy, statutory
sector employees, police officers and members of the Ulster Defence Association
(UDA).
Throughout the thesis it will be demonstrated that restorative practices when
permitted the space to operate on an equitable basis without subservience to
statutory regulations can enable a community to respond to harm and conflict more
effectively than the traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution to which the
community has become accustomed. However, it will be argued that the capacity for
community based restorative practices to actualise it's potential is inhibited by the
impact of system and pseudo-system factors.
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